Another one for Freddie

Poor poor Freddie! I think he is the worst victim of my hobby. Behold, another jumper just for him. Size is age 1, Mummy, and the wool is machine washable (not that you would handwash it anyway! haha!)

It's a cute jumper with a checkerboard pattern and NO FIDDLY BUTTONS! yippee!The collar is lovely, just a twisty ribbed collar to keep his neck warm...
...now, after all this hard work, won't someone PLEASE send me a picture of his teeth???

Royal Ascot Goat Races at Munyonyo Speke Resort!

On Saturday it was the annual "Royal Ascot Goat Races" at Munyonyo Speke Resort in Kampala, and organised a big group of us to go from work.

Now you might be thinking to yourself, horses... well they run because there are people sitting on them whipping them, and greyhounds... well they love to chase things so you can see how they'd be good in a race... but Goats? And quite possibly you'd be right. Enter the "Goat Push", a wheelie contraption that consists of a number of mattresses arranged perpendicular to the ground to "encourage" the goats around. Vegetarian Dan is back in the country, and as you can imagine... he was loving it!

It was a really beautiful day and the whole thing felt a bit like a school fete. I bet correctly on the first race and won 14000UGX, but the big winner was our friend Alex (the butcher, not the highways engineer) who owned a goat that won it's race, and was rewarded with 2.8mil UGX! As you can imagine, it turned into a great day!
Although the ladies all went originally wearing hats, our attire and demure deteriorated rapidly as the free booze flowed! None the less, we made it to the after-party, and danced the night (and the stench of goats' poop) away!

Basketball & A Big Fat African Wedding!

Wahoo! I am already SO behind! Okay, panting to keep up... let me update you on my weekend!

On Friday night I went to watch some basketball at the YMCA centre in Kampala. A professional side were playing the Kampala-based UCU (Uganda Christian University), and everyone was cheering for the students! There was a huge crowd and although all of my understanding and knowledge of basketball is based on playing NBA Jam on the Super Nintendo, I felt like I was just about able to follow what was going on.

It was all really exciting, so perhaps baskteball is the sport for me... only as a spectator though, I was dreading the ball coming anywhere near me after the volleyball incident a few months ago. (Okay, that was my first try at a hyperlink).

On Saturday, I attended my first African Wedding. It was incredible! Just so many people. There was no table plan or name cards, you just get ushered to a seat. There were flowers and fairy lights everywhere. I was worried that I would find the whole thing a bit OTT, but I think it was all really tasteful.

The food was delicious and the wine just kept coming. The speeches when on for hours (there were AT LEAST 15) but no-one minded, as the drinks were flowing and all of the sentiments were so sweet. Between the speechs there was Traditional Dance, performed by a professional group. I took a short video, which I will try to attach...

Okay- yep, I think that worked!

But the best dance was one with earthenware pots where girls placed stacks of them on their heads and continued to move around. It was too nail-biting to film!

Best wishes to the happy couple!

Prima Ballerina

So last week (yep, sorry I'm a bit behind!!) I finished a ballerina cardigan for my cousin's daughter, Rosemary. The wool was so lovely and soft that I knit the whole thing in just 9 days! ... and don't get me wrong, this is not 9 days of constant knitting, this is just knitting in the car to work (bad jam), knitting on the way home from work (worse jam) and then while waiting for food in restaurants.

I'm completely delighted with it, and I hope she will be too. She should recieve it anyday now, as I sent it back to the UK with one of my colleagues.

Never again... Right?

Last weekend I totally succumbed to peer pressure and went RAFTING at Jinja AGAIN! Last time we hadn't flipped and we had missed quite a few of the big rapids.

This time- not the case. I still do not enjoy this activity - and HEREBY VOW that I will never ever do this again... and especially not hungover! I kept falling out because I couldn't hang on tight enough and the helmet was giving me the worst headache ever!

Anyway, here's a picture of us taking the waterfall, the one we missed last time.

Lake Bunyonyi Ready!!

When Dan (vegetarian) returns to Uganda next month, he's going to be working down by Lake Bunyonyi. Intending a visit, and hearing the rumours of how cold it is down in Kibale, I've just finished a lovely jumper for myself.

It has an interesting twist stitch that I hadn't used before, but it wasn't too difficult. It's made of an alpaca/wool/silk mix and it's really warm!Yum yum yum...

More baby clothes on the way - 'cos I know you love them!
P.S. Sorry you can't see my face, but it was sweaty as the jumper was just so warm!

Horse Riding at Munyonyo Speke Resort

My Goodness! I just participated in the laziest weekend of all time! I went out with Lara & Steve (only been in K'la 2 weeks!) on Friday, and then Saturday we were just vegetables around the pool! So so lazy. I was very careful with the suncream and so didn't get too burnt.

Then Saturday night we got a curry delivery... I'm starting to get a good collection of take-away numbers on my phone now... We have an office opening party in September and I'll never fit in my dress. I also tried to stain my nails with henna paste. Now that I read that bad, I can see that this is a bad idea... but I was just blided by my enthusiam and optimism. Sadly the result is such an awful mess that I can't even bare to post a picture here... I will be wearing nailpolish until it grows out!!

On Sunday, Lara & I went to the Speke Resort at Munyonyo for a girlie day. I've never been there before, and it's quite something. They have lots of restaurants, a huge pools and gym, a marina and stables! Everyone drives around in golf carts. It's feels a bit like an exculsive celebrity rehad facility. We took a horse ride down to Lake Victoria and it was brilliant!

The horses were in excellent condition and the ride was very eventful. We rode along a main road with cars and bodas tooting at us! The horses weren't even bothered, but it was strange for me as a rider to experiance other road-users having so little respect for the horses. Certainly not like in the UK!

At Lake Victoria

After that we hung out at the sauna and spa and by the pool... as all this lazing around suggests, you can expect a BIG knitting update tomorrow!!